Britain ‘won’t be involved in Trump’s blockade of Strait of Hormuz’

The UK will not be involved in Donald Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, it is understood.

Earlier, a UK government spokesperson said: ‘We continue to support freedom of navigation and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is urgently needed to support the global economy and the cost of living back home.

‘The Strait of Hormuz must not be subject to tolling.

‘We are urgently working with France and other partners to put together a wide coalition to protect freedom of navigation.’

CNN reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has entered southern Lebanon to survey the land seized by the IDF.

It is the first time Netanyahu has crossed into Israel’s neighbour since he began the war against Lebanon.

He was reportedly accompanied by defence minister Israel Katz and IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said the US ‘doesn’t need the strait’ for its oil.

He said: ‘We don’t get our oil from there. We have so much oil. We have boats pouring up to the United States.

‘They’ll be filling them up, and they’ll be leaving and they’ll be packed with the best oil you can get. Light, sweet, crude. We don’t need the strait.’

When asked whether a US blockade of the Strait would result in lower oil and gas prices, he said: ‘Well, eventually it’s gonna be lower. No, it might not happen initially but it’s gonna go down. When this is all over, look, the stock market, the Dow hit 50,000.’

While the Dow Jones industrial average hit 50,000 points back in February, it has been falling since then due to the war in Iran and associated surges in energy prices.

In its latest statement following Trump’s announcement that the US would send military ships to the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp warned:

The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declares that contrary to the false claims of some enemy officials, the strait of Hormuz is under intelligent control and management, open for the harmless passage of non-military vessels in accordance with specific regulations, and any military vessels attempting to approach the strait of Hormuz under any pretext or excuse will be considered a violation of the ceasefire and will be dealt with harshly and decisively.

More from Mr Trump’s interview with Fox Business Channel:

We got just about every point we needed except for the fact that they refuse to give up their nuclear ambition. They want to have nuclear weapons. They’re not going to have nuclear weapons.

They came in like they have the cards, but they don’t have the cards.

I predict they come back and give us everything we want. I don’t want 95 percent. I told them. I want everything.

The US President also gave further details on the blockade he promised to impose on Iranian oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the strategy will be implemented ‘pretty soon’.

Just moments after revealing that the US is planning to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump has claimed Nato has offered to assist in America’s bid to ‘clean out’ the vital waterway.

Having threatened in recent days to pull out of the international defence alliance over what he perceived as a lack of help from the bloc during the Iran War, Mr Trump now seems keen to work with US allies once again.

He suggested the US has been ‘very disappointed with Nato’, but ‘now they want to come and they want to help with the strait’.

The President told Fox News: ‘It won’t take long to clean it out, so we’re gonna clean out the strait.

‘I understand the UK and a couple of other countries are sending minesweepers.’

Hours after US-Iran talks in Islamabad failed, President Trump warned US forces will immediately ‘begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz’.

But experts have suggested the President’s latest wartime gambit might not make much of a difference at all, given the small number of ships which pass through the Strait.

‘If this is actually done by the Americans, it will halt a very tiny trickle of vessels,’ chief executive of Vespucci Maritime Lars Jensen told the BBC. ‘In the greater scheme of things, it doesn’t really change anything.’

Similarly, Mr Trump’s vow to prevent safe passage of ships paying tolls to Iran would not alter the conflict, given most of these vessels ‘will already be subject to American sanctions’.

Fuel protests are being planned across Britain as pump prices carry on soaring because of the Iran war, it was claimed yesterday.

Farming organisations were reportedly discussing how to carry out similar protests that have brought roads to a standstill in Ireland over the past week.

It comes as average diesel prices nudge closer to a record £2 a litre after more than 40 consecutive days of price rises, although dozens of forecourts are already charging this.

Read more: